Fissure
by OnyxHarmony
Summary: ((This is the prequel one-shot to Deity's rift travels after Zane's death in Grumpy-Zane verse. )) Zane..is gone. He sacrificed himself to put an end to the overlord's menace and tyranny plaguing the city. Deity is..abnormally silent, despite crying and being restrained by Cole at the moment of the explosion. Does she know something the others didn't? Why wouldn't she tell anyone?


Zane had..sacrificed himself a week ago. He'd made a tough decision and realized that he was the only one who could withstand the Overlord's golden armor long enough to..overload his power source and use it to end the battle. After a brief night of honoring Zane and celebrating the memory of his life the night after the battle, they'd all gone to the funeral today. Bonds were weak among the team..and some had made the choice to leave. Deity had wanted to stay, to help keep Lloyd together and watch out for the city. Hoping Cole would want the same, Deity frowned when she came into the bedroom she shared with the master of earth and saw him packing. "You're leaving..?" She sat down on the bed, watching Cole shove clothing rather harshly into his duffel bag. Cole lifted his head from folding up a shirt. "Yeah..I am. It just doesn't feel right without him here, Deity. He was my best friend..and he was a brother to you. I'm surprised you aren't packing, too." Deity shook her head. "I'm staying." She looked down at the floor, listening to Cole cram more clothes into his bag. "It's funny..I thought you'd stay with me.." Cole grumbled and zipped one part of his duffel bag up, opening another compartment to pack supplies into. "Zane would want us to respect his memory and not dwell on his death." Deity slowly lifted her head to look at him, watching him talk. "He would want us to take time to ourselves and leave the team so we can all focus on our lives. Staying in the city only reminds us of his death. He would've-" Deity slowly stood up. "Excuse me? Leave the team so we can focus on our lives?" She crossed her arms, clearly getting upset. "I'm aware that we all need time to ourselves to process what happened. And I have no issue with you needing alone time or space. Zane wouldn't want us to keep it bottled in. But were you even planning on telling me you were leaving?"

Cole shoved his hairbrush into the bag, staring at it for a moment. He shut his eyes and took a breath, then slowly opened them. "No. No I wasn't. No one else told any of us when they left, so why should I have to? You would've been fine if I up and left. I mean, look at what I've done to this team-even when Zane was alive." He shook his head. "I damaged you and nearly blinded you again, I put you in a two year coma, and you've..seen what I've done to Zane. I need space, and you're fine without me. This whole team is." Deity couldn't believe what she was hearing. Cole began packing again, shaking his head. "Zane would want the team safe, split apart or not. He would want me to go, because he's not around to help you guys stop me." Deity rubbed her face in frustration, feeling anger build in her. "Are you even listening to yourself?! Zane would want this, Zane would want that. How do any of us know what he'd want?!" Cole flinched at her yelling and paused, zipping another compartment. "Zane is dead. And unless you personally know how he would've wanted us to handle his death, you need to shut it." That did it, Deity slammed her fist into the bedpost, hearing the wood splinter a little against her metal fist. "I know what he would've wanted in the event of his death, you overgrown pebble! Of course I fucking know what he would've wanted, I knew he was going to die and we talked-" Deity caught herself mid sentence and her eyes widened, realizing what she'd said. "I.." Cole had been carrying his bag to the door, pausing and twitching when she said that. He turned around and slammed his bag on the floor, all the anger he'd had inside finally reaching a breaking point. "You..wHAT?!" He ran a hand through his hair, shaking and trying to keep himself calm. He couldn't do it. She knew. She _k n e w_. He watched her, shaking his head and yelling. "You knew this whole time?! You could've told..you should've told-!" Cole clenched his fist, taking a breath. "GOD DAMMIT DEITY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Deity flinched and tried to back up, but she was frozen in place. She'd never seem Cole so..angry. "Cole, you don't understand, I-" She could feel tears filling her eyes. Why was she about to cry? Was she scared of him leaving? Or was it the fact that this..seething anger was directed at her? Cole got closer, towering over her. His red eyes glared down at her, a piercing gaze she'd ever seen on him before. "But you did _**nothing**_." Cole sneered at her and picked up his duffel bag, getting ready to leave. Deity finally forced her body to move, running and standing in front of the door. Cole pushed past her, shoving her to the side as he walked out the door of their room. Deity ran after him and grabbed his arm when he got near the front door of the ship. Her voice shook as she spoke. "Wait a minute!" She wiped at her eyes. "You really think I didn't want to change what happened? That I didn't tell you about this on purpose?" She trembled, looking up at him when he turned around. "Cole, I just knew he'd die, I didn't know when or h-" Cole glared at her, causing her to lose her voice for a moment. When she finally got the nerve to speak again, her voice cracked. "I..I wasn't allowed to..to say anything-" Cole narrowed his eyes at her, body tensing in anger. "D..Don't leave, Cole-" She felt tears spilling and dripping down her face. "I'm sorry-" Cole yanked his arm from her grip and leaned down to her, anger still present on his face. "You weren't allowed to? Well I'm allowing you to get out of my face, right now!" He yelled, pulling away from her and opening the front door. He left and slammed the door behind him. Cole left the ship behind, anger still fresh in his mind. This was her fault, right? She had every opportunity to tell them. To tell _ANY_ of them. Finally finding a small village far away from the city, Cole picked up a job as a lumberjack, spending the next three days venting his anger into chopping trees down. But..as the weeks went on, Cole seemed to lose his anger as it slowly turned to worry.

He paused in his work, leaning on his ax and staring at the ground. She..hadn't come after him after the argument. She hadn't even attempted to contact him. Cole leaned the ax against a tree, digging in his bag nearby for his old radio and heading toward a ravine that was by the worksite. Sitting down on the ground, he fumbled with the controls on the radio until he turned it on. Flipping through the channels.. most of them were dead. Of course Zane's was, but.. he hadn't expected the others to have theirs off. He slowly flipped to Deity's channel, surprised to hear static. Was..her radio on? He carefully pressed the button down. "Deity? Can you hear me? I.." Sorry. He was sorry. His head was clearer now and he'd been going over what transpired the night of their argument. He'd scared her and made her cry. He hadn't been letting her talk, and let his anger over losing Zane get the better of him. Cole rubbed his face, pausing when Deity's channel loudly beeped and went dead. His hand slowly slid down his face as he stared at the radio in his hand. He'd been talking to _nothing_. He'd upset her so badly she hadn't even bothered to take her radio so she could stay in contact. Cole slowly stood up and looked down into the ravine, feeling slight anger at himself for causing this. He wiped at his eyes in frustration, hand shaking as it closed around the radio. He messed up. **Bad**. Really, really badly. He threw the radio into the ravine in anger at himself, turning his back to it and heading back to the worksite when he heard it crash against the stone and rock below. Cole ran a hand through his hair and picked up his ax, shaking his head and staring at it. Looking over at Whit and Roger loading logs up onto the truck, he sighed. He couldn't go back. And..he wouldn't want to. She wasn't there, the team was gone..it just didn't feel like home anymore. This was his life..for now. He just hoped he'd see her again. He still loved her, despite the argument and.. her apparently knowing Zane would die. Turning his gaze back to the ax, he pulled his arms back in a wide swing and swung as hard as he could, lodging the blade inside the untouched tree. Cole began running over their argument in his mind, chopping away at the tree as though he were on autopilot. His gaze drifted to the ground as he paused in his work again, ax blade stuck in the tree. He shut his eyes, sighing as he finally said out loud what he knew in his mind a week ago.

 _ **"I should've listened."**_


End file.
